Valve lock



s. FARBER June 6, 1939.

VALVE LOCK Filed Feb. 16, 1938 II 9:5 A0: an/r0142? I :lwucmk Smalls! ikrer Sum-MAW Patented June 6, 1939 t UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHCE Q I I t 1 7 2,161,509

VALVE LOCK Samuel Farber, Newport, Ky. Application FebruarylG, 1938, Serial No. 190,863

'1 Claims. (01. 70-180) The primary object of my invention is to proround and. larger than the square head 22 on vide a valve which may be locked in any position the stem so that the sleeve 20 may rotate freely for. preventing unauthorized use or tampering. around the head 22 when that portion 2!! sur- The problem of preventing unauthorized use rounds it. Another internal collar portion 24 of 55 of valves has been long outstanding. Wherever a the sleeve 20 is of a complementary non-round 5 valve may be found in a location accessible to the contour with, and slightly larger than, the head public, there is found a potential source of loss 22. When the square collar portion 24 of the or danger to the proprietor of the fluid controlled sleeve has been axially slid to the position shown by the valve. in dotted lines in Fig. 2 with its non-round surl0 In the present invention a valve handle is faces surrounding those of the head 22, the head always held by the stem, but axially movable 22 and the collar 24 are engaged so that when the therealong between two positions. In one of handle l8 is'turned, the stem I2 is also turned these positions, the handle engages the stem, and and the valve I0 is driven towards an open or inthe other position the'handle is free to rotate closed position.

? independently of the stem. Also, in this freely The lower edges of the head 22 is beveled, as 5;: rotatable position, an arm attached to the handle shown at 22, and the upper edge of the collar is carried to a position where it may be locked to portion 24 is beveled'in a complementary manner,

a fiange integral with the casing. as indicated at 24 so that facile engagement be- It is apparent, then, that the object has been tween the head and collar may be executed with- 0 accomplished byproviding a valve which can be out wear or dogging of the edges. turned to any position within its range, and A washer 26 is held to the top of the stem l2 then looked in that position. 7 by a screw 28 for preventing the handle from Among myother objects are to provide a valve moving any farther upwardly along the stem than both inexpensive enough so that the initial cost allowed by the engagement of the shoulders 30 will soon be more than repaid by the savings reof the collar 24 with thewasher 26. I

. suiting therefrom, and one so simple that a mere It is preferred that the head of the screw 28 child may operate it, provided he has the key. be not provided with the conventional groove, Repair work on this valve or look is of the most so that it will be impossible to insert any ordielementary order and, with few exceptions, standnary tool to. loosen the assembled device, or to ard parts can be used. turn the stem l2 in any degree when the handle 30' Other objects will appear in the following spec- I8 is disengaged therewith. This screw 28 may ification and drawing, in which: be assembled by raising the stem l2 slightly l'iS Side elevation Showing the bly beyond the normal open position of the valve in locked position; l0, sliding the sleeve 2! as far down over the stem F 2 i a r s n t r u h F 1 long l2 as possible, .and then inserting the screw 28 35 the lines 22 and looking in the direction of the tightly with a wrench,

arrows; and An arm 32, which preferablyis formed from a 3 s a V Similar to 2 but Showing strip of metal, is attached integrally and rigidly a modification. to the handle I 8, as shown, at 33. The free end 4 S Sh in Figs- 1 and a a B a g 4 is of the arm 32 has a lower portion 34 which has interposed. between the pipes 6. In conventional n eyelet' 36,

manner,aseat8is provided for the valve ID. The A second arm 38 is attached integrally and valve [0 is controlled by a stem l2 having threads rigidly with the valve casing, as shown at 40. I4, enga the internal threads 9 in the Ca Where the casing has atop portion 5, as shown,

" 13 p h S projecting through e 5 81 it is preferred that the second arm 38 be attached 45 pa and beyond the Casing P tothe lower part 4, for reasons which will be ex- Near the outside end of the Stem I2 is a hanplained later. An eyelet 42 is provided in the secdle 18, which may be a lever, knob, or wheel as 0nd arm opposite the eyelet 36 so that a padlock shown. One fact of great importance about the 44 may be used to fasten the two arms together.

handle !8 is that it is mounted on a sleeve 20 The arm 32 is of such length that when the 50 which, in turn, is engaged around the stem l2. handle l8 and collar 24 are axially in position The stem i2 is provided with a non-round head of non-engagement with the head 22, the lower 22 which, for purposes of illustration, may be end of the arm is sufliciently near the arm 38 so square, as shown. 2 as to be secured thereto with an ordinary pad- 5 Internally, a portion 20 of the sleeve 20 is lock 44. When the handle l8 has been axially moved to engage the collar 24 with the head 22, the ends of the arms are, of course, substantially away from each other.

A modification embodying the invention is shown in Fig. 3, wherein the square head 22'a on the stem is situated substantially away from the top end of the stem, so that the handle l8 and collar 24 are moved axially down the stem l2 to engage the head 22'a and, of course, axially up the stem to bring the internally round sleeve portion 29a radially opposite the head 22a so that it may be rotated independently thereof. A skirted portion 23 is provided beneath the internally. round sleeve portion 22a so that the stem l2 cannot be turned by pliers or the like whenthe handle is locked. In this modification, the arm 32a is bent around so that the lower is beneath the arm 38a.

As shown in all the figures, the sleeve Z0 is sufficiently long to cover the head 22, no matter which axial position is selected, so that it is impossible to tamper with the valve when locked by grabbing the head with any tool. As shown in Fig. 2, the stem is, likewise, completely co-vered by the sleeve when the handle is locked.

In operation, the padlock 44 is removed from the arms 32 and 38, the handle is grasped and slid axially along the stem until engagement between the head on the stem and the collar on the sleeve is felt by a slight rotative test. This position is shown by the dotted lines X and Y, for the handle and arm, and by dotted lines XA and YA in the modification. Then the handle 28 is rotated to drive the valve ID to the desired position, After this, the handle I8 is axially slid back to its former position, where it can be freely rotated to bring the eyelets 36 and 42 opposite each other, after which the padlock 44 may be replaced. By looking the handle to the lower part of the 'casing 4, it is impossible to take the valve apart,

since all intermediate portions are bracketed between the locked arms.

From the foregoing specification, it is seen that the new device denotes a distinct advance in the art, since it can be locked either in the opened or closed, or any intermediate, position. It is inexpensive to manufacture, immediately applicable to present systems, and foolproof in operation.

Let it be understood that all obvious modifications, such as changing the contours of the head 22 and collar 24, the forms, locations, and methods of attachment, types of locks, and types of valve structure, are clearly within the scope of my invention, which I have described and now claim.

I claim:

1. In combination with a valve, an operating member therefor, a handle mounted on said member and movable only between two positions along said member, connecting means between said member and handle whereby in one of said positions movement of said handle moves said member while in the other of said positions, said handle is freely movable with respect to said portion 34a engagement with said stem so as to turn therewith, and in the second of said positions being rotatable independently of said stem, and means for locking said handle to said casing in the second of said positions.

3. A valve as set forth in claim 2, said means comprising an arm rigidly secured to said handle, another arm rigidly secured to said casing,

,and a lock for securing the free ends of said arms together.

4. A valve as set forth in claim 1, including a casing for said valve, said last-mentioned means comprising an element rigid with said handle,

another element rigid with said casing, and means for locking both elements together.

5. A valve as set forth in claim 1, said means including an arm rigid with said handle, and means for locking said arm to said casing whereby said arm is prevented from being axially moved to the first of said positions.

6. A valve, including a casing, an operating stem extending externally from said casing, said stem having a portion thereof substantially square in cross-section, and a handle having a sleeve-like portion, one part of which is also substantially square in cross-section and slightly larger than the square portion of said stem, another section of which is substantially round and larger in diameter than the diagonal across said square portion, said handle being axially movable between two positions of operative engagement and disengagement along said stem, the square section of said sleeve being radially opposite the square portion of said stem in the first of said positions whereby, when said handle is rotated, said stem is also rotated to operate said valve, the round section of said sleeve being radially opposite the square portion of said stem when said handle is in the second position, an arm comprising a strip of metal with an eyelet therein, rigid with said handle and a second arm also comprising a strip of metal with an eyelet therein rigid with said casing, whereby the eyelets in the arms are moved substantially away from and towards each other, respectively, as the handle is moved operatively to engage and dis engage said stem so that the said arms may be locked against relative movement therebetween by an ordinary padlock passed through the eyelets.

7. A valve as set forth in claim 2, in which the stem at the portion which is engaged by the handle is of irregular cross-section and the handle has an opening of complementary cross-section, said handle having a sleeve portion surrounding the irregular portion of said stem in both axial positions of the handle. 

